Oct 13, 2024

Aardman Animations to Lay Off 15% of Core Staff

Ahead of the release of the feature film “Wallace and Gromit,” Aardman Animations will lay off about 15% of its core staff, or about 20 of its non-freelance employees: In advance of the release of “Vengeance Most Fowl,” employee-owned about 15% of its staff, or about 20 of its approximately 130 non-freelance employees, to be laid off.

Since the majority of Aardman's artists are project-specific freelancers who are not considered staff, the layoffs appear to be primarily among management; between 2022 and 2023, the studio employed between 286 and 310 freelancers. When core staff and freelancers are combined, the studio had a total of 417 employees in 2023.

According to a report in Deadline, one-third of the layoffs were voluntary, with others potentially returning to the company as freelancers. The company is also adding new roles such as senior licensing manager and sales executive to help sell library titles such as “Wallace and Gromit,” “Shaun the Sheep,” and “Chicken Run,” which account for the bulk of the company's profits.

Erdman said that the reduction in headcount will give the company greater flexibility to “weather the current challenging market environment,” citing “uncertainty about future energy costs, high inflation, a cost-of-living crisis, and an effort to keep up with market rate payments in order to attract and retain talent in efforts to keep up with market rate payments to attract and retain talent,” among other reasons.

In its financial report for fiscal year 2023, released last Thursday, the company revealed a pre-tax loss of £550,135 ($720,000) in 2023, compared to a pre-tax profit of £1,561,027 ($2 million) in 2022. The studio's revenue decreased from £31.7 million ($41.4 million) in 2022 to £26.7 million ($34.8 million) in 2023.

In its filing, the company stated that it would have been profitable in 2023 without the “Lloyd the Lord of the Flies” series.

The company decided to write down “Lloyd's” because it did not believe it could fully recover the production costs of “Lloyd's.” According to the filing

the “Lloyd of the Flies” series delivered in 2022 had a significant amount of unrecovered costs as of the end of the year. Although the brand was well received at launch, the brand's performance was adversely affected by the current very difficult market conditions. The actual revenue for the year was reviewed along with future revenue projections and it was decided to write down the value of the remaining costs on the balance sheet by £1.75 million (net of related taxes). The Lloyd's brand will continue to be promoted and marketed and the remaining costs are expected to be recovered.

In addition to the upcoming Wallace and Gromit, Aardman completed a second season of Very Small Creatures, decided to produce a seventh season of Shaun the Sheep, and produced a new pilot for a potential series called Sugarloaf The company also produced a new pilot for a potential series called Sugarloaf. The company has also produced interactive projects such as a VR experience for “Wallace and Gromit” and the upcoming video game “Chicken Run: Eggstraction.”

In addition, Aardman produces commercials and runs the Aardman Academy. The Aardman Academy is a series of courses available to partner institutions and trained 176 students in 2023.